Kos and Kosm
by roisaber
Summary: Excerpt from Micolash's research notes, Volume IV, pp. 427-432


**[286.3.1b CX 1924-*]** The key to insight is to realize its true character – insight has a direct correlation to alienation. The more insightful one becomes; the more one can truly apprehend the composition of reality; the more one becomes excluded from the common grounds of the conversations of one's peers. This is not obvious at first glance, but just a little careful philosophy will demonstrate it to be so. The common man goes to wars from which his only lucky spoil would be to return with his arms and legs intact. He signs up for financial schemes that serve only to divest him of his money. Is this the behavior of one moved by the passions of Insight? I think not.

Kos – or should I say, Kosm. Two orders, two forms, two hypostases of the same thing. Form and manifestation. Potential and actualization. Soul and body. Wave and object. Lately, the pundits in the Physick department have taken to describing matter and energy this way, as well. I don't trust their science; they rely on cunning mathematical models rather than transcendence through the Old Blood. But still, they may be on to something. Perhaps they are merely describing the same phenomenon in language more appropriate to their individual fields of study. So there we have it again – Kos and Kosm – the defined, and that which is defined thereby.

Kos: the spirit world. The wellspring of the Old Blood and the light which casts the shadow of the plane which the ignorant refer to as "Physickal."

Kosm: the hypostasis. Crystallized Kos; suspended above Kos, yet woven out of the fabric of its stuff.

Some will understand these words as a revelation. Others will regard it as nonsense. Through this means we determine this from that – that is, the sages from the fools. The etymology of the word science is skei-e; to cut. To separate the stuff of Kosm into smaller and smaller bits, trying to find the primordial being-ness that lies in the center of all things. The finer the knife, the finer the cut. But Kosm, being the bubbling up of Kos, can be cut indefinitely small. Skei-e – cut, cut, cut.

The opposite of science, then, is religion. Religiare – to bind together. Science cuts, religion binds. Solve, Coagula. Yang, Yin, in the philosophy of the uttermost East. These are the two primary actions of human intellect – cutting and binding, and humans find themselves defining everything within this ontological framework; all ideas are either a cutting, or a binding. But what of Kos?

To apply the mechanism of cutting to Kos is like trying to cut water with a knife. The blade passes through it and instantly the water overtakes and heals the fissure. You're left with the same volume of water as before, split not into halves of right or left, just water around the knife. Nor can you bind Kos together, as with ropes; it flows to the lowest level, in accordance with its fundamental nature. Kos runs always downwards and it is protected by a sheath of ice – Kosm.

There is no Kos without Kosm – Kos is defined by its relation to Kosm. There is no Kosm without Kos – Kosm is defined by its relation to Kos.

This is, perhaps, what the Physickers mean by "relativity."

The key to Kos is not science; cutting will not suffice. The key to Kos is not religion; binding it together will not suffice. These are the methods of the common intellect, and as demonstrated above, the common intellect does not suffice. For if man had in his grasp Kos itself, the world would be changed in the blinking of an eye. No war, no pestilence, no plague, no sundering. Influence over Kos is control over Kosm – since Kos is the cause and Kosm is the effect, even the tiniest influence over Kos would suffice. Great effects come from the smallest of causes; consider how many shards of glass a goblet will create when dropped from a height. So we can rule out the theory that research, or faith, is sufficient to pierce the Horizon separating the (paradoxically) conjoined pair. The answer, then, must be found in Insight.

Insight is the key. Insight neither cuts nor binds. Insight is direct apprehension – the impression upon the senses neither reduced to an assembly of parts nor added up into a metaphysickal framework. I look out of the window. Applying the attitude of science, I see a great, clacking machine, with each impact causing the next and dissipating a tiny fraction of its constituent energy as radiation. With religion, I see a synthetic artifact, created by the will of a hidden artificer. But what do I see with Insight?

Under the influence of Insight the mountains are not mountains, the river is not a river, the university buildings are not university buildings. It's all one Object of manifest Kos, and the appearances of change are mere appearances. There is no change in the underlying substance. Does it hurt when I prick my finger? I feel a pressure, certainly, but what differentiates the sensation of pleasure from pain? Both are just reflexive energies. Let's try pushing harder. Blood, now. Well, that rather hurts. Yet even so, I feel as though this pain is nothing but a weakness within myself, and were I more disciplined, I'd know it as pleasure, or even indifference.

What is the source of Insight? It is apprehension.

What is the source of apprehension? Consciousness.

What is the source of consciousness? Kos.

Kos is always flowing downwards, like water. When you grasp it, it flows out of your hands. How do I increase my Insight? I have tried cutting the world with science. I have tried binding the world with religion. I have read the books of Physickers and I have read the great occult treatises of every race whether advanced or primitive. Neither methodology was wrong – not wrong as such. Everything I've studied has brought me closer to apprehension of Kos, but none of what I've read has proved sufficient. A perplexing conundrum.

Work will continue. The closer I get to Kos, the farther away it gets from me. Still, I pray that there is value to the chase.


End file.
